More than 75 percent of Taiwanese expressed support for the idea of holding a national referendum on the nation's UN bid, a survey released yesterday showed.
The survey was conducted by Taiwan Thinktank on Dec. 27 and 28, polling 1,085 interviewees aged over 20 around the country.
The results showed that 77 percent of respondents said they supported holding a referendum to show the world the Taiwanese wish to apply for membership in the global body.
Up to 73.6 percent of the interviewees, regardless of their political affiliation, said that Taiwan's inability to join the UN "seriously affects the nation's competitiveness in the world."
More than 50 percent also believed that this affects national security, but close to 40 percent of respondents disagreed.
A larger number of respondents aged 20 to 29 regarded UN membership as vital to national security, which might show that younger Taiwanese had more of a sense of crisis than other age groups, Lo Chih-cheng (
Cross-strait relations may improve if both China and Taiwan held UN membership said 63 percent of the interviewees.
Opinions diverged though on whether the nation should apply for membership under the name "Republic of China" or "Taiwan," with about 38 percent favoring the former and about 48 percent choosing the latter.
Forty-seven percent of respondents said China's oppression of Taiwan would instead make Taiwanese more determined to gain UN membership, but 33 percent of them said they saw little hope of that happening.
"The survey's results showed that a majority of the public likely feel indignant at the nation's exclusion from the UN," said Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), deputy director of the Research and Planning Committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They, however, recognize and support the government's efforts to join the UN, even if it seemed an impossible mission, he added.
In another section of the questionnaire, which was designed to gauge respondents' attitude toward the long-stalled arms procurement bills, 60.5 percent said that Taiwan's relations with the US would be affected if the bills continued to languish in the legislature.
About 46 percent of respondents said that the legislature should pass the bills before the end of the legislative session on Jan. 19.
Although 44.8 percent of respondents believed the delay may influence national security, 33.7 percent thought otherwise.
In terms of party affiliation, only 31.1 percent of pan-blue respondents said delaying the passage of the bills would influence national security, while about 74 percent of the interviewees affiliated with the pan-green camp gave a positive answer to the question.
A NT$6.27 billion (US$191.9 million) portion of the bills was put to committee review in the legislature on Dec. 30, but passage of the proposal remains unclear.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS